Mean diffusivity related to collectivism among university students in Japan

Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 4;9(1):1338. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37995-5.

Abstract

Collectivism is an important factor for coping with stress in one's social life. To date, no imaging studies have revealed a direct association between collectivism and white matter structure. Collectivism is positively related to independence, harm avoidance, rejection sensitivity, cooperativeness, external locus of control, and self-monitoring and negatively related to need for uniqueness. Accordingly, we hypothesised that the neural structures underpinning collectivism are those that are also involved with its relationship using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study aimed to identify the brain structures associated with collectivism in healthy young adults (n = 797), using regional grey and white matter volume, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity (MD) analyses of MRI data. Scores on the collectivism scale were positively associated with MD values in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, ventral posterior cingulate cortex, globus pallidus, and calcarine cortex using the threshold-free cluster enhancement method with family-wise errors corrected to P < 0.05 at the whole-brain level. No significant associations between were found collectivism and other measures. Thus, the present findings supported our hypothesis that the neural correlates of collectivism are situated in regions involved in its related factors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anisotropy
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging*
  • Brain / physiology
  • Cerebral Cortex / diagnostic imaging
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology
  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Female
  • Globus Pallidus / diagnostic imaging
  • Globus Pallidus / physiology
  • Gyrus Cinguli / diagnostic imaging
  • Gyrus Cinguli / physiology
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Japan / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Prefrontal Cortex / diagnostic imaging
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
  • Students
  • Temporal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology
  • Universities
  • White Matter / diagnostic imaging*
  • White Matter / physiology
  • Young Adult